The Hound of the Baskervilles Week: The Hound of the Baskervilles 1939

Hello and welcome to the very first day of The Hound of the Baskervilles Week.  As I previously mentioned, I will not be reviewing the silent film because…frankly it is a bit difficult and we will leave it at that.  That being said I thought we would toddle down to 1939 and tackle the Basil Rathbone manifestation instead.  In this version Holmes is the butler and maid’s last name was altered to Barryman rather than Barrymore (due to John Barrymore’s acting streak and not to confuse audience members).  Some reason or another that is an issue of debate and hopefully cleared up.  This is The Hound of Baskervilles.

So, what do you think of the smoking jacket?

Sherlock Holmes: There is no doubt of it in my mind. Or perhaps I should say, my imagination. For that is where spoilers are conceived and they’re solved- in the imagination.

Brought to us by director Sidney Lanfield (Cheer Up and Smile, Three Girls Lost, Hush Money, Red Salute, My Favorite Blond and Where There’s Life) and produced by 20^th Century Fox this was the first of the fourteen movies based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s character Sherlock Holmes.    

Holmes (Basil Rathbone of The Last Days of Pompeii, Captain Blood, The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Sun Never Sets and The House of Fear) and Watson (Nigel Bruce of Escape!, I Was a Spy, Murder in Trinidad, The Lady is Willing, The Spider Woman and The Woman in Green) are in for the evening when they receive a visit from Dr. Mortimer (Lionel Atwill of Night Monster, Captain America: The Serial, House of Frankenstein, Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon, Fog Island and House of Dracula) who warns the duo of the impending arrival of Sir Henry Baskerville, the last of the line and heir to the estate in Devonshire. He begins to explain that Baskerville Hall is cursed by a demonic beast, a veritable hellhound that killed Sir Hugo Baskerville hundreds of years ago and believes in his heart that this creature roams the moors to kill all Baskervilles. 

BAD DOG!!! DOWN!!!

Naturally Holmes views it as tittle-tattle or poppycock if you will, then Mortimer tells the events leading to his best friend Sir Charles Baskerville’s ghastly death.   Found dead in his garden without so much as a mark on his body but his face was contorted into sheer terror.   The official inquisition did not make the village aware that around his body some distance away was gigantic paw prints.  Mortimer failed to mention this because no one would have believed him in the slightest. 

Holmes sends Watson to Baskerville Hall along with young Sir Henry, stating he is far too busy to attend them at this time and Watson is to keep a wary eye of the goings on there.

I had just a few comments to make at this time.  I have heard constant complaints of the lack of Victorian times rather than the contemporary settings of Rathbone’s Sherlock Holmes movies and I am proud to say this actually holds to that time period but it is the only of the series that does. During the latter 1930s to 1940s Rathbone’s Holmes was a war hero thwarting the Nazi regime and while it did detract from its original beginnings it brought hope and strength to the fighting boys overseas to see a classic English hero as a spy buster across the pond.  Not to be too fan boy but this is one of my favorite versions of this classic chilling tale.   FYI, be on the lookout for character actor John Carradine in this film.

Doctor, please remove your hand from my knee.